These incredible underwater images from a scuba diving photography competition will change how you see the ocean

Scuba Diving Magazine said the images were chosen for their beauty, creativity, and their ability to impact and inspire.Jamie Hall/Scuba Diving Magazine

The annual Through Your Lens underwater photography
contest by Scuba Diving Magazine has given out its awards for
this year's competition.

The magazine said the images were chosen for their
beauty, creativity, and their ability to impact and
inspire.

The winning entry in this year's contest was an
upside-down shot of a whale calf.

A surprising large portion of our planet is underwater,
extraordinary and largely unexplored.

As a result, the ocean provides ripe pickings for photography
enthusiasts, spoilt by rapidly improving technology.

This year's Through Your Lens photo contest, developed and
produced by Scuba Diving magazine, just wrapped up for its 14th
year after drawing more than 2100 entries - the full list of
winners and honourable mentions are featured in the
September/October issue of Scuba Diving and can also be found online here.

The 2019 competition opens on November 1 and is open until May
31, 2019. You can see the full list of categories and official rules here.
Scuba Diving said the winning images "were chosen for their
beauty and creativity, and further for their ability to impact
and inspire".

The prizes were awarded across four categories - wide-angle,
conceptual, macro and compact camera. Here's a small selection of
the stunning, other-worldly images photographers brought back to
the surface.